6 months old

Emily finally rolled and I wasn't there to see it.  I woke up one morning to the sound of her jib jabbering away and when I got to her crib she was on her belly.  Ever since then I have tried to make her roll again and she always gets that arm stuck, I even filmed a 10 minute video of her trying so hard to roll but to no avail. 

Feeding time is going alot smoother and her taste buds are expanding, we find that at this time Emily likes sweet peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, and vanilla pudding with bananas.  Of course, she doesn't like bananas by themselves and she doens't like her rice cereal anymore, that along with chicken makes her gag.  My mom made bluberry muffins and grandpa had to let her taste the soft bread, which she loved, it was so funny watching her open her mouth in anticipation of another bite.

Emily has found her voice and is now using it daily in a series of high pitch squeals that range from quiet to loud when she gets excited.  She is still blowing bubbles and soaking up those bibs with them, it feels as though I go through a hundered bibs a week.  That pesky tooth still hasn't shown up yet so we are still having some fussy nights but nothing mommy can't handle right now. 

Another milestone Emily hit is sitting up for a longer period of time by herself.  We still have to watch her because she falls over but not as fast as she was before.  She can probably sit unassisted for about a minute.  Emily's nonna put her in her walker the other day and she loved it, but she can only go backwards.  This backward motion will probably last a couple of weeks before she gets a hang of going forward and then she'll be knocking into walls in time.  This is the age where milestones happen quickly and the most exciting and funniest things come about. 

Emily and I stayed with my parents Saturday and she got to sleep with them, when they woke up in the morning both of them said it sounded like she said "daddy".  We are practicing mamma and dadda right now, but everytime I say it to her she just looks at me and smiles. She either thinks I'm playing with her or that I'm just a crazy lady who makes weird faces and sounds.  Emily likes when mommy sings her songs like "Old McDonald and Mary had a Little Lamb.  I've started sing her the ABC's in hopes that one day she'll learn them before entering school.  I have high goals for her, but I'm sure all mothers do for their children.

Developing news this week, Emily will find out whether she will be having a brother or sister and she will be going in for her 6 month checkup, so stay tuned for all the great news to come.



Dancing with Apa





Emily loved the flowers





Showing Emily the pretty wildflowers





Grandma the photographer didn't tell me I had the flower in her face





Mommy and baby



Finally Caught the Pink Ducky

Emily is always trying to catch and hold on to her duck while I'm taking her a bath.  She has caught it before but can never hold on becuase it is so slippery.  She finally held on long enough to examine this little plastic creature and then of course she wanted to put it in her mouth.



I caught it!





So proud of herself





Hmmm, what is this thing?



It's Feeding Time

We have finally come to the point in Emily's life where she is now ready for her next step in eating.  Last week she had her first taste of baby food with initial success, and I say initial because the next couple of feedings after, it's like she didn't want anything to do with baby food.  Trial and error is what we are going through now though, her pediatrician said to wait until she was six months old, but we are only a couple of weeks away so I decided to go ahead and try it out.  So far no allergies and her body seems to be doing great with taking in the different foods.  The first thing we tried was rice cereal which was an instant hit, I think it's because it had formula so it was familiar. Next we tried bananas and to my surprise, she didn't really like them.  I think they were a little too tart for her, but I'll keep trying and maybe she'll get used to it.  Some of my friends and family told me to try making my own baby food, which I haven't yet, but I will in the near future.  Most of them had great things to say about making your own food and they say they don't have picky eaters now because of it.  I'm sure Emily will do fine, it's all just so new to her, but if she's anything like her family she will be loving her food soon enough.

Now comes the time for mommy to brag about her baby for a little bit.  I was so proud of Emily when she took her first bite, she grabbed the spoon and put it in her mouth.  I'm not sure if all babies do this, but I thought she was so smart.  For sure she was going to look at the spoon and not know what it was for, yet there she was using it as it should be used.  Anyway, on with the photos...and check out the bling in her ears, yes, daddy finally allowed us to pierce baby's ears.



Emily's first bite





Yummy





Let's try some bananas





Hmmm, not liking bananas so much





Overall a success





And not too messy



Teething is a B!@#%...wait Mommy doesn't say those words

For the past couple of days, Emily's teething has gone from bad to horrendous. Either her tooth is going to cut in really soon or I have much more of this to deal with.  She usually goes to bed around 8:30pm and then wakes up around 5am, but lately she has been going to bed at 8:30pm and then waking up at 11pm and then again at 1am.  From this point on she stays asleep until I have to wake her up at 6:30am to dress her for the babysitter.  Brian has been on turnaround since the 1st of March and wakes up at 4:30am to get dressed for work, which means mommy is only getting about a couple of hours of sleep at a time. 

I usually rock her to sleep in our rocking chair since it soothes her and helps her fall asleep faster, but some days she just does not want to go to bed and instead will try and bite my face off.  Actually, this is her way of telling me that her gums are in pain and she needs some relief.  It feels so funny when she grabs a hold of you and them plants her mouth on your face, I can't help but laugh.  I think I've mentioned this before.

Not only do her little gums hurt, but all the saliva she is producing combined with her constantly having her hand in her mouth results in gas pains in her belly.  Yet another reason why she wakes up yelling at night for mom to come and help.  Gripe water tends to work really well, but she hates the taste of it and ends up spitting half of it out of her mouth, so she's only getting half a dosage lest I overdose her on an herbal supplement.

Needless to say, I'm tired!!!  I can't help but cry sometimes out of sheer exhaustion especially since baby #2 is sucking the life out of me as we speak.  By the way, I think I feel flutters, how exciting!  Then the excitement goes away and I think of when Emily was inside me doing somersaults leading me to get less sleep at night.  When things get too crazy I only have to remember to thank God for my good fortunes and wonderful family and I somehow get the strength to move forward.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Emily is now 5 months old as of February 25th and she has happily discovered her feet.  Every time she is on her changing table she grabs those feet of hers and tries to put them in her mouth.  She has succeeded on a couple of occasions, but for the most part, her belly gets in her way.  Another milestone this month, not quite achieved yet but almost there, is rolling, hence the title of this entry.  Emily is great at rolling from her back to her side but can't quite get her arm to tuck underneath her, so this prohibits her from making a complete roll.  Practice makes perfect and we practice everyday until she gives me that tired look.

Almost a month ago, Brian and I bought her a jumperoo to play in and she loves it.  From the beginning, she could never quite get her feet to touch the ground so we had to simulate the jumping motion for her.  Today though, she can touch her the tips of her toes to the floor and once she gets the motion going she can jump all by herself.  It's so cute and she is so proud of herself.  Those legs of hers are getting stronger everyday.  She has a small play table that she has to stand at and she can now stand for about 20-30 seconds without her knees giving out.  YAY!

Emily hasn't gotten any teeth in yet, but I'm hoping they are coming in shortly, her teething is getting worse.  She puts everything in her mouth that is of reach and that's including my face.  It cracks me up, it is so hilarious, but the laughing goes away when the pain doesn't let her fall asleep.  Then mommy has to do something about it.

In my last post I put up pictures of Emily with her first cookie, well it seems that when she stays with Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez that there are many other foods that they try to give her as well.  I hear she likes tortillas, oatmeal, and oranges, but doesn't like garlic bread.  Don't worry, she is always supervised and she never really eats it, she just tastes the food.  Even daddy has gotten in on it and has started dipping his finger in sauces and then letting Emily lick it, her face immediately lets you know if she is satisfied with the flavor.

Anyway, I'll get to the good part, here are some recent pics of her and her lovely feet.



My chubby baby!





Look at those yummy legs!





The bald spot is from Emily moving her head back and forth as she wakes up.





I had a tough time taking a picture by myself, this is the best I could do.  She looked so cute!





Standing at her play table.





Grandma giving Emily bread at Johnny Carino's.